


two dozen roses sitting in the backseat couldn't compare to you

by overcomewithlongingfora_girl



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Boys in Flower Crowns, Dancing, Emotions, Feels, Fire Nation (Avatar), Fire Nation culture, Flower Crowns, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Getting Together, I Mean It's Only One Chapter, Insecure Zuko, Insecurity, Kinda, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Slow Burn, but still
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:08:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24873583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/overcomewithlongingfora_girl/pseuds/overcomewithlongingfora_girl
Summary: Thought a little too much about boys in flower crowns and then this happened...oops?Title is one of my all time favorite song lyrics of all time :)
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 122
Kudos: 857





	two dozen roses sitting in the backseat couldn't compare to you

The group was already planning to visit Zuko, and when Katara remembered that the fire lilies were blooming, it made the decision that much easier. Within a week, the gang is gathered, the plans are made, and they’ve decided to tell Zuko none of it. They want it to be a surprise.

Because of the surprise, and a certain lack of foresight, they don’t realize until Appa is landing in the city that apparently, they’ve actually chosen to visit right in the middle of the weeklong Fire Lily Festival. There are vendors selling flowers on every street corner and kids running around with painted faces. There doesn’t seem to be any special fire lily festival food, which in Sokka’s opinion, doesn’t make this much of a festival. The Fire Nation seems pretty into it, though. Everyone is dressed head to toe in red, red, red, and their Water Tribe and Earth Kingdom garb is so unusual that they get stares all through the city.

Well, they might be getting stares because they’re traveling with the Avatar. That could be it, too.

When they get to the palace, it’s almost forty-five minutes before they can see Zuko, even though they’re moved right away to the front of the line. Finally, the big gold doors swing open, and they go charging down the room to the Fire Lord.

He’s sitting up way too stiffly in the throne, which Sokka knows means that he’s exhausted and bored and working too hard not to be fidgety. Sokka can tell exactly when he recognizes them through the leaping flames that separate the dais from the rest of the room. His whole face brightens, breaks open in a huge smile. By the time Aang reaches the front of the room, skipping ahead of the rest of the group, Zuko has vaulted over the decorative flames and holds his arms out. As he approaches at a more leisurely pace, Sokka sees Zuko bite his lip, doubt himself, waver awkwardly between holding his arms out and letting them fall – then Aang knocks him flat on his back with something that looks more like a flying tackle than a hug. When Zuko sits up, he’s laughing, his topknot is coming undone, his hairpiece is knocked askew, and he looks less like the Fire Lord than the sarcastic, quick, fierce friend that had shared their travels. Something in Sokka’s chest releases, some tension he didn’t even know was there, and he smiles.

Reaching down, Sokka yanks Zuko to his feet and pulls him straight in for another long hug. Feeling Zuko relax against him makes Sokka smile into the Fire Lord’s shoulder. “Been too long, buddy.” He pulls back, looks his friend in the face.

Smiling, Zuko ducks his head. “Yeah, I guess it has.”

He looks good. He looks good, and Sokka’s glad. He’s not as skinny as he used to be, the constant worry has left his face, and there isn’t that fearful tension all through his body that signifies he’s always on edge. Best of all, he’s smiling, something he used to be so self-conscious about. Sure, he’s ducking his head, but it’s still a smile, and it’s real and sweet and demands an answering grin from Sokka.

Before Sokka can look any longer, Toph is shoving him out of the way. “My turn!” She doesn’t have Aang’s running start, but she nearly knocks Zuko over anyway, and he’s laughing, gasping for air as he reaches down to hug her.

After Katara’s given him a squeeze, they all start trying to talk, and before long they’re arguing over whose turn it is to speak, and who gets to share which stupid story, and Zuko is watching it with this quietly amused, unbearably fond expression that makes Sokka feel soft inside. It’s good to be back together. It’s so good that they’re all back together!

Then, from somewhere behind them, someone clears their throat, and Zuko’s face falls. Already, Sokka feels like killing the guy, whoever he is.

“Fire Lord Zuko, there is still coordinating to be done in regard to the fireworks tonight. The vendors want to know if they can launch their new Spiraling Sparks rockets from the roofs down by the harbor.”

Sighing, Zuko rubs a hand across his forehead. “As I’ve _already told them_ , the new design is too dangerous. Every time they’ve been tested, it causes a fire.”

“Yes, but they’re convinced that the extra height of the roofs and the minimal architecture along the bay makes it worth the risk.”

“ _Worth_ the _risk?”_ Zuko growls. “It is not worth risking people’s homes and livelihoods so they can sell a few extra fireworks.”

“They want to show you their-”

“Yes, yes, okay, I understand.” Pinching the bridge of his nose, Zuko heaves a sigh. “Guys, I…I’m sorry, I just can’t…”

“Fire Lord duties.” It comes out more sullenly than Sokka intends, and Zuko winces.

“It’s just a really important festival,” he explains quietly.

“Of course.” There’s Katara, being completely understanding, and making Sokka feel like even more of an ass. “It seems like a beautiful festival! We’ll stay out of your hair until it’s over, and then when things calm down a bit we can actually spend some time with you.”

Looking relieved, Zuko nods. “That’d be really nice. I’ll, ah, I’ll have someone prepare a suite of rooms for you. And there’s, um…” he snaps his fingers, searching for the word. “There’s, ah, activities and…stuff to do. I’ll have someone make a list, or, or I can get a tour guide-”

“No tour guides,” Aang says, a little too quickly. “Sorry – after Joo Dee, they all make me kinda nervous.”

“Okay, well, I can still have someone make a list, or a map of some of the fun things to do while the festival’s on-”

“Someone to make a room up for us, someone to be a tour guide, someone to make a list of activities…isn’t there someone you can just, I don’t know, order to do your Fire Lord duties?” The joke comes out a little harsher than Sokka means, yet again, and he’s rewarded by an elbow to the ribs from Toph.

“I wish,” Zuko mutters, shaking his head. “But hey, I’m Fire Lord now.”

“Are not!” Sokka’s finally back on his game, as he swoops down by Zuko’s feet and plucks the hairpiece off the ground. It must’ve fallen while none of them were looking. “I have the special hair tie.” He perches it on top of his head, holds it there with one hand. “I actually think that I’m the Fire Lord now.”

For the first time since his advisor spoke up, Zuko grins again, and they’re right back where they were before, in a noisy clamor. Aang is already bowing to Sokka, calling him Fire Lord, and Toph is scrambling to grab the crown for herself, while Katara and Zuko just watch the chaos, exchanging amused looks.

Then, of course, that same dick from before has to ruin it by clearing his throat again, even louder and more obnoxiously, and Zuko sighs. “Sorry – I really do have to go.” He stretches his hand out for the pin.

“Let me,” Sokka offers, surprising even himself. Without waiting for an answer, he takes Zuko by the shoulders and spins him around, gathering the Fire Lord’s hair carefully. Not even thinking about it, he slips the ceremonial headpiece between his lips while both of his hands are working, and Katara bursts out laughing.

“I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to put the _Fire Lord’s ceremonial hairpiece_ in your _mouth,_ Sokka.”

“It’s fine,” Zuko mumbles, but his voice sounds strained, so Sokka figures he’d better hurry up. When he has Zuko’s hair gathered, he realizes he doesn’t have anything to tie it with, so he grunts at the group, but they just return blank faces. Rolling his eyes, he holds the topknot in one hand while he unlaces a leather cord bracelet from his wrist. Swiftly, he wraps it around the base of the topknot, and then spins Zuko back around to look at him.

Zuko’s biting his lip, looking tentative for some reason, and Sokka can’t help grinning at him as he checks his handiwork. It looks good, tight and clean as the previous style, although the leather tie is more visible than the black ribbon that Zuko had been using before. Sokka resists the urge to muss his work as he reaches up to slip the hairpiece in.

“There.”

Their faces are very close together. Zuko smells like cinnamon and sandalwood.

“Looks great, Fire Lord!” Sokka pulls back fast and speaks way too loudly, leaving Zuko blinking, looking a little stunned.

“Uh…thanks.” He sounds distracted. Probably already thinking about how to tell these firework people to cut it out.

“Okay, well, let us know if you have time later! We can always come back.” Aang’s offer brings a smile to Zuko’s face, and he seems to refocus.

“Of course I will,” he promises warmly. “I think I should be free for dinner. We can watch the fireworks together.”

Katara nods excitedly. “We would love that!”

“ _Some_ of us would love that,” Toph corrects, with an arched eyebrow.

“C’mon, Toph, it’ll still be fun to listen to the explosions.”

“I do love hearing things blow up.”

The group is still chatting as they move towards the door, but not so loud that Sokka can’t hear Zuko’s wistful sigh behind them as they leave.

_

As it turns out, the Fire Lily Festival _does_ have special food! In addition to face painting, special dances, and every item they can dream of, all themed around fire lilies. Katara can’t resist this scarf with embroidered lilies along the edges, and Sokka is sorely tempted by a gorgeous red bag. Instead, the group picks out the highest quality kite they can find, and sit on a bench, surrounded by a sea of lilies, as Aang sends it soaring.

Zuko can’t see them that night. He sends a messenger, and none of them bother to pretend they aren’t a little crushed by the news. “Poor Zuko.” Katara frowns. “He seems like he has so much work, and he’s under so much stress.”

“I mean…we came all this way.” Sokka whacks the head off a nearby fire lily with a stick. “The least he could do is see us.”

“That’s not fair,” Katara chides, but Sokka makes a face, and she drops it.

The fireworks _are_ beautiful. And nothing catches on fire. Nothing that isn’t supposed to, anyway.

_

The gang rises late the next morning. Servants bring pancakes to their quarters garnished with fire lilies and drenched in sugary red sauce. The servant also formally apologizes for Fire Lord Zuko, who is once again stuck arbitrating stupid debates about who gets to sell which flowers, and where, and if some budding “entrepreneur” can sell crushed lilies as medicine.

The rest of the group looks sympathetic, but Sokka rolls his eyes. “If he wanted to hang out with us, he’d be here,” he grumbles. “This is exactly like when he first joined us and spent all of his time hiding in corners. I think we need to go drag him out to do something _fun_.”

For once, the others aren’t on his side. “I don’t know,” Aang says doubtfully. “I think he just has a lot of responsibility.”

“And he’s probably sad about him and Mai breaking up,” Katara adds.

“You mean, Mai dumping him for Ty Lee.”

“Sokka!”

“What? That’s totally what happened.”

“It’s not _totally_ what happened. We don’t know for sure,” Katara reminds him with a look.

Toph snickers. “I mean, we know for pretty sure.”

Rolling her eyes, Katara turns to their breakfast. “You guys are impossible.”

Sokka drops it, but he’s still annoyed that they’re here, visiting the Fire Lord, and he can’t find the time to see them for more than fifteen minutes. Eventually, even his grouchy mood is shaken by the overwhelming sweetness of the breakfast they’re eating. About thirty seconds after finishing, the sugar is already making Aang and Sokka bounce off the walls, so they head out into the city for another day of fire lily themed fun.

Today there’s a parade, which they sneak into for a little while, wearing masks purchased at a corner stall. It’s pretty fun, until Toph takes a wrong turn and runs into one of the _real_ dancers, almost knocking down the whole row. That’s when Katara pulls them out and scolds them for almost ruining the dancers’ hard work, though she’d been smiling under a mask right next to them for the past three blocks. Even this hypocrisy only provokes good-natured ribbing. Everyone is in a good mood, even Sokka, though he keeps glancing over and expecting to see Zuko’s laughing face as he cracks some Fire Nation joke.

After the parade, they play carnival games along the side streets. Sokka loses just about every coin he has trying to knock down some unfairly weighted pins, and then Toph does it first try, with a sneaky grin and a twist of her foot that sends the stall shaking. Katara rolls her eyes disapprovingly at the scam, but Sokka doesn’t see her complaining when Aang uses his airbending to win her a fire lily ribbon that she ties up in her hair.

That night there are even more fireworks, and the food is good, even if it’s mostly so spicy Sokka feels like he’ll lose his tongue. There’s a fire show, some bender that’s showing off all these moves that look like magic, which has Aang utterly enchanted. Toph much prefers the live music, even though all the musicians seem to play are love songs.

As they walk home, Sokka is feeling optimistic. “It’s the last day of the festival tomorrow. Zuko will definitely have time now, don’t you think?”

“I don’t know.” Aang scratches his head. “Won’t he probably have more duties on the last day? There’s probably a big finale to this thing.”

“Well I just think after two whole days, he can forget being Fire Lord for a minute and come hang out with us.”

_

Zuko cannot, apparently, forget being Fire Lord for just one day. The messenger that informs them of this looks genuinely sad as she conveys Zuko’s “sincerest regret”, and Sokka wonders indignantly if Zuko hired a trained actress so they couldn’t all get mad at him.

No one else seems mad though, just disappointed that Zuko can’t join them. Probably the fake actress messenger girl just duped them into it. Sokka isn’t fooled. Even the pancakes at breakfast can’t cheer him up.

Stepping outside the palace, the city has somehow stepped up their flower game even _more,_ which Sokka didn’t think was possible. Everyone is wearing gorgeous red clothes, flowers and vines painted on their faces, arms, and in the case of some eye-catching individuals, bare chests, both male and female. Today there are archery contests, staged duels, and everywhere Sokka looks, people wearing fire lily crowns.

No one wore a crown last night, but this morning they’re out in abundance – twining dark green stems and fiery bright red blooms, woven into a circlet that rests on many a dark-haired head. They’re beautiful. Some are simple, some ornate, some have silver charms dangling from them, or ribbons, or carved wooden figures.

Not everyone has them, but of course as soon as Katara sees them, she has to have one. Try as they might, none of the group see a vendor that sells them.

“Excuse me,” Katara finally stops one of the people wearing a crown, a grinning man holding hands with a giant of a guy holding a broadsword. Just a few months ago, a casual interaction between them would be unthinkable, but now the men stop and turn to her, all smiles. “Excuse me, where can I get a flower crown like yours?”

The smaller man blinks incredulously. “Get one?”

“Like, where could I buy one?”

The men laugh. “You must not be from around here.” It’s said merrily, without malice, so Katara smiles uncertainly. “You don’t buy these crowns, you make them!”

“And they must be given to you,” adds the taller man, grinning at his partner. “You don’t make one for yourself.”

“Oh. Well, where can we make one?”

The friendly Fire Nation warriors direct them down the street, to a block where long wooden tables have been pulled into the middle of the street and crowds of people are fashioning heaving tubs of fire lilies into crowns. Despite themselves, all of them kind of get into it, even Toph, who is really just twisting stems together with no regard for how it works. The artistry that come so easily to even the preteen Fire Nation kids around them is not as easy as it looks.

“I could be dueling someone right now, and instead I’m making _flower crowns?”_ Sokka can’t help moaning as his latest attempt uncurls into a heap of battered stems.

“You’re not really _making_ much of anything,” Katara points out, focused on trying some lattice pattern that Sokka is confident won’t work.

“No one else is getting it right either. Maybe we should give up.”

No one acknowledges Sokka’s genius idea.

Finally, when Aang watches his third try fall apart in his hands, a few older women nearby take pity on them.

“Here.” The first lady is about Gran-Gran’s age, and she’s wearing the most elaborate crown the group has yet seen. It’s not just a simple circle, there are lilies somehow piled up on top, and silver ribbon twines around the whole thing. With deft, careful hands, she shows them how to form a starting ring of lilies into a circle. “You can add more by lacing them through the stems, like a braid,” she explains, smiling widely.

“Your crown is beautiful.” Katara can’t stop staring at it. The woman laughs.

“My husband has been making them for me for the past fifty years, so I would hope so!”

“My wife has been making them for longer, and they’re still crap,” announces another woman from across the table, looking unimpressed. Still, there’s a tenderness in the way she touches the bedraggled flowers strung around her head.

Together, the two women help the kids make their flower crowns. They’re nothing special, but to Team Avatar, it’s pretty impressive work. All except for Toph, who still twists hers too tightly and crushes all the flowers. But hey, it’s not like she cares.

When they’re finished tucking extra lilies into the bands of greenery, Aang goes to put his on Katara’s head, blushing a little. “No, no, no,” scolds the woman with the pretty headdress, laughing. “You have to make it personal! You have to have something on the crown to show that it’s you who made it.”

“Oh.” Aang looks down at the flower crown. “Uh…”

“Here.” Katara takes pity on him and untwists the ribbon he’d won the day before from where it’s woven into her braid. He ties it onto the crown with some complicated airbender knot, and beams when Katara puts it on her head.

“And for you.” She puts her own flower crown over Aang’s little bald head with one of her own blue hair ribbons twined through the blossoms. He beams.

The women take the trouble to show Toph the pattern over and over, letting her run her fingers over their hands and the work as they do it. Then, instead of following their lead, she twists a bunch of stems into a circle and clamps it shut with a badge of earth. She finishes this performance by crowning her own head. When one of the older women opens her mouth to protest, Toph loudly declares that it is a gift to _herself,_ thank you very much.

“I like it,” says the woman with the clumsy wife, laughing.

That leaves Sokka, and his own wreath, which he’s loathe to admit that he worked rather hard on. “I’ll find someone to give it to,” he shrugs, but he already has an idea that turns up the corner of his lips. Their patient instructors chuckle.

“Well, I hope you have a lovely time with this final day. I’m sure whoever gets your crown will love it.” The first woman wishes them well with a formal little bow, and watches them, smiling, as they walk away.

The crowns must be some kind of serious tradition, because now, when people see them on Aang and Katara’s heads, they smile when the group passes, and nudge each other, and gasp. Probably it’s because the Avatar himself is here and engaging in local traditions. They stare a little bit harder at Toph and her messy, distinctive crown. Probably that’s due to confusion.

They head back to the palace for lunch and Sokka carries the crown carefully, trying hard not to ruin the flowers. He has a plan for his little lily crown. They’re climbing up the palace steps toward their quarters when he interrupts the others’ chatter. “I’m going to ask Zuko one more time if he can join us,” he tells the others casually.

“C’mon, Sokka, you’re just going to make him feel bad,” Katara argues.

“Or, would he feel worse because he’d think we didn’t care if he came or not? I don’t know, you tell me.” While Katara is rolling her eyes at him, Sokka skips away to find the Fire Lord. The first attendant he runs into points him in the direction of Zuko’s chambers, and Sokka bursts in without knocking, hoping, a little too late, that Zuko isn’t changing or anything.

He isn’t. The Fire Lord is fully clothed and sitting with his head in his hands at a desk that looks like it’s about three inches deep in papers. At Sokka’s loud entrance, he lifts his head, startled at first, then smiling tiredly when he sees his friend. “Hey, Sokka.”

Sokka wastes no time. “So, are you coming out with us this afternoon? It’s the last day of the festival.”

Wincing, Zuko shakes his head. “I just…I want to, believe me, just, I have so much work, and all of it is somehow time-sensitive-”

“Whatever.” The hurt that flashes over Zuko’s face when he says that makes Sokka backpedal, fast. “I mean – not whatever, but…okay. Look, I made this for you!”

He presents the crown with a flourish. He’s tied one of his carvings around it, and he’s practiced enough that the little piece of bone is recognizable as a wolf. Well, Sokka thinks it’s recognizable. He’s almost positive. He can’t really tell from Zuko’s expression because the other teenager just looks stunned. Two bright red spots of color are deepening high on his cheeks. Smugly, Sokka leans across the desk and plops the crown of lilies on Zuko’s head.

“There. And trust me, you look amazing, because I made this thing and it rocks.”

All jokes aside, it does look striking. The fire lilies are beautiful flowers, and they contrast well with Zuko’s dark hair, pale skin, and yellow-golden eyes. The crown also perfectly matches the bright red blush currently spreading over the Fire Lord’s face.

“Uh…thanks, Sokka.”

“You’re welcome! And, you know, the least you can do, since you aren’t hanging out with us, is wear it to all your big important meetings. Because I _made it_ for you. And it’ll hurt my feelings if you don’t.”

Zuko makes a sound like he’s choking, and Sokka laughs. “Sokka-”

“No buts, buddy!” Sokka’s already headed out the door. “You look great! I’ll know if you don’t wear it!”

The door shuts behind him before he can hear Zuko’s reply.

_

Walking around the city after lunch, Sokka is in a much better mood. Teasing Zuko really did him some good! He knows the firebender well enough that even if the poor guy is blushing to the tips of his ears, he’ll wear the crown to meetings because Sokka asked. Zuko’s sweet like that, and Sokka’s glad. Even if he’s not traipsing around the city with them, he can feel like they’re there with him, or at least thinking of him.

The final day, every street is packed with people, with food, with merchants hawking the last of their wares. There are candied lilies and seed packets and tattoo artists offering to ink the flower permanently into your skin. Kids in red robes with awkward, fumbling crowns are chasing each other, dodging between people’s feet, but no one seems to mind. The musicians and their love songs are everywhere.

They wander, too full of food and too dazzled by the sights to settle in one place. Katara gets her fortune read – she’s still a sucker for it – and Toph cheats at a few more carnival games, earning souvenirs that she tucks into her pockets for later. The townspeople burning lilies in all the torches now, and the thick, sweet, overwhelming scent follows them through the city. These people take their festival _crazy_ seriously. And all over a few pretty flowers!

The group stops for a drink at the tea shop near the palace, where Uncle Iroh welcomes them warmly. “ _You’re_ working today?” Katara laughs. “During the end of the Fire Lily Festival? As one of the most high-ranking government officials in the nation?”

“I relinquished my rank, Katara, and I am happier for it,” Uncle Iroh reminds her. “The Fire Lily Festival is wonderful for business! How could I not work today?” He smiles at the group, absolutely radiating warmth. “Now, can I interest you in my new fire lily blend?”

“I’ve had enough of the fire lilies for now, thanks,” Sokka admits, and Uncle Iroh lets loose with a belly laugh.

“Trust me, my friend, you are not the only one,” smiling Iroh nods. “A week is too long for everyone but the young lovers.”

“Young lovers?” Aang tips his head to the side. “What do you mean?”

Shaking his head, Iroh chuckles. “You must know what I mean! The Fire Lily Festival is all about love, and youthful passion. And if it does not embarrass you too much to hear this from an old man, congratulations.” He smiles, looking from Katara to Aang. “I didn’t know the two of you were courting.”

“Courting?!” Katara yelps.

“What?!” Aang sounds just as panicked. Sokka rolls his eyes.

“Even Toph knew about this, and she’s blind.”

“He’s right.”

“What-what are you talking about?” Aang demands of Uncle Iroh, glancing around at all of them with panic in his eyes. “We’re not – we’re uh – it’s not-”

“Calm down, young man,” Uncle Iroh tells him gently. “Take a breath. I am sorry for my assumption, but you are wearing each other’s crowns, no?”

Katara’s voice is far too shrill when it comes out, Sokka notes with some amusement. That always happens when she’s trying to hide something. “What do the crowns have to do with anything? They’re just pretty flowers.”

“Young lady, they are a great deal more than that. The flowers you’re wearing are called courting crowns. They are the most sacred part of the Fire Lily Festival. In the Fire Nation, we make them for each other, finish them with a personal touch, and give them to our beloved on the final day of the Fire Lily Festival. It is quite a beautiful tradition, I think.”

“Wait, so Aang and I have been walking around all day with, with public declarations of _love_ on our _heads?”_ Katara fairly squeaks it.

“Well, yes.” Uncle Iroh smiles at them, completely unbothered. “It is like those betrothal necklaces from your tribe, only this special day only comes once a year. You know, it is very modern of you to each wear the other’s crowns.” Iroh nods approvingly. “I like this approach. I have always thought that love should be an equal pursuit.”

“Does that mean that Toph is courting herself?” asks Aang incredulously, scratching his head.

“I am? Awesome!”

“Sokka, what did you do with your crown?”

Katara’s question stops Sokka completely in his tracks. Up until then, he’d been very much enjoying his younger sister’s mortification. Now, it’s his turn to feel slow, icy panic crawl through his veins.

“Oh, fuck.”

“Sokka!” Katara sounds indignant, but there’s no time for that. Sokka is already jumping up and sprinting for the door.

“Be right back!”

Sokka crashes into about a thousand people between the tea shop and the palace, but he doesn’t care, because he needs to get back to Zuko’s room and tear that stupid fucking crown off Zuko’s head. He remembers the bright red blush, the choking sound from Zuko, and internally cusses himself out for engaging in some stupid local practice without actually knowing the _first thing_ about what it actually meant.

He just hopes Zuko didn’t actually go to a meeting wearing the damn thing.

No, when Sokka bursts through Zuko’s bedroom door, the Fire Lord is still there. The crown is still on his head. He smiles weakly when he sees it’s Sokka, and then lurches back as Sokka fairly throws himself across the desk, lunging for the crown. Papers scatter everywhere. Sokka’s a little too frazzled to care.

“Hey, what the hell?”

“Take…” Sokka’s panting now from running all that way. There were a lot of stairs to get here! “…take…the crown…off…”

Face flooding with color again, Zuko reaches up and touches the petals. “You figured out what it means, then?”

Relieved, Sokka staggers a few steps to the side and collapses on Zuko’s bed, still straining to get his breath back. “…yeah…” he manages. “…yeah.”

Standing up from his desk, Zuko walks across the room to sit heavily beside Sokka. “I’m guessing you didn’t know what it meant when you gave it to me.”

“Obviously _…_ not!”

Zuko’s head sinks. “I thought it might’ve been a joke,” he admits.

“Would’ve been…a mean fucking…joke.”

Carefully, Zuko removes the crown and then just holds it in his hands. Though he’s still flat on his back, Sokka can see Zuko in his peripheral, just looking at it. “It’s a nice crown. You could still give it to someone else. You know, for real.”

“Who…the _fuck…_ would I give it to?”

“Suki’s in the city somewhere.” Zuko shrugs. “She’s training my guard in the ways of the Kyoshi warriors.”

“Suki ‘n I…broke up.”

“Oh. I didn’t know that.” A pause. “Mai and I broke up.”

“I…I heard that.” Sokka can breathe again. He sits up. Zuko’s still examining the crown in his hands with a gentle veneration that belies the tension Sokka sees all through his back. “Whatcha thinking about, buddy?”

“Nothing.” Zuko’s voice is detached, husky. Sokka bumps their shoulders together.

“C’mon. Something’s bugging you.” Still nothing. “Zuko. I’m your friend. I care about you. I know I upset you. Please tell me how, so we can fix it.” Sokka makes his voice sound measured, but inside he’s freaking out. He screwed up this time. He really screwed up.

“Okay.” Zuko swallows hard. “When you gave me this, I thought it was because…you, um…” Squeezing his eyes shut as if he’s preparing for a blow, Zuko forces the words out in a quick exhalation. “I thought you knew.”

“Knew what?”

“Knew…c’mon, Sokka, don’t make me say it.” Zuko sounds pained. The words come slowly, as if he’s bringing them up from some deep and secret place. “Just…knew. I just, I thought it was a really mean joke.”

For a few solid minutes, Sokka turns that over in his head, trying to figure it out. It hits him like a bucketful of cold water to the face. “Oh! Oh! Oh, man! Oh!”

If Zuko’s head could sink any lower, it’d fall right off his shoulders. “Yeah.”

“I…no. I…I did not know.” Sokka’s heart is beating hard and high and fast in his chest, but he forces out the words because he has to be sure he’s understood Zuko correctly. “I didn’t know you felt that way.”

Instead of answering, Zuko just offers a stiff nod. The two sit quietly for a long moment, and then, seemingly unprompted, the Fire Lord speaks. “I just…I didn’t mean for…” he sighs, sounding frustrated. “It just happened. I’m sorry. I don’t want anything to be weird.”

“It’s not weird.”

“Just this…” he shakes the crown gently. “This was…hard.”

Sokka knows how hard it is for Zuko to talk about _feelings,_ can hear how the other boy’s voice sounds scraped raw, and it makes his chest ache. “Fuck, Zuko, I’m so sorry. I didn’t...I didn’t know. I’m so sorry.”

“I thought you were making fun of me and I thought you wanted other people to see,” Zuko whispers, almost too quiet for Sokka to hear. He sounds devastated, and Sokka would swear that feeling in his chest is his heart being crushed to dust.

“I’m _so sorry,”_ he tells Zuko as sincerely as he can, dying to scoot closer, put his arm around his friend, but not knowing if that’s really fair. “I swear, I swear I never meant to…to do that. Okay, I meant to tease you, but just because I thought, I don’t know, it was maybe a little girly, and maybe a little undignified for the Fire Lord…” Sokka squeezes his eyes shut. _What the hell had he been thinking?_ “I just…I missed you, I guess, and I wanted you to…to remember...us, when you were in all your meetings. That we were here and thinking about you. I…I don’t know what I was thinking. It was stupid. I’m so sorry.”

“You didn’t know what it meant,” Zuko reminds him softly. He’s rubbing at his eyes, and Sokka does him the favor of not looking, because if Sokka catches Zuko crying, both their hearts might break. “It…I mean, without knowing what it meant, it was really a pretty sweet gesture. I’m sorry I…I’m sorry I freaked out.”

“Please, don’t be sorry. Don’t apologize to me.” Sokka grabs Zuko’s hand without even thinking about it, and the Fire Lord goes still. Carefully, he disentangles his fingers, and offers Sokka the crown with a fragile smile.

“It’s a really nice crown. Especially for your first time. You should find someone to give it to.”

Sokka’s throat feels like it’s closing as he looks from the ring of lilies to the bravely smiling Fire Lord. The knowledge has been growing in him for – well, for days now, really. If not weeks. Every time he looked for Zuko first after making a joke. Every time he went to bed angry that he wasn’t with them when the others were perfectly content to wait just a few more days. The long endless nights in the South Pole, where he used to feel so at home, when he missed Aang, and Toph, but thought most of all about a sarcastic, smirking, raspy-voiced firebender with the heart of a lion.

The series of extremely embarrassing dreams had also been a clue, he supposes, wincing.

“I, um. I want you to wear it.”

An impressive array of emotions flicker over Zuko’s face. He settles on angry. “Sokka, that’s not what I want, that’s not _fair_ -”

“No, I mean I…” Sokka gulps, clears his throat. “I want you to wear it.”

“Sokka, it’s a courting crown.”

“I know.”

“It’s for people…”

“I know.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

They both just sit there, staring at the crown in Zuko’s hands. Somehow, the lilies haven’t wilted yet.

“Please wear it.” Sokka doesn’t know where he finds the courage, but the words leave his throat.

The look that Zuko shoots Sokka is delicate, uncertain, desperately hopeful and at the same time, close to terrified. “Really?”

“Yes.”

“Really?”

“Yes!”

“ _Really?”_

Sokka leans forward, closes his eyes, tips his head, and kisses Zuko carefully, gently, reverently on the lips. He stays there for a moment, then pulls back. “Yes.”

Zuko tries to clear his throat. “O-oh.” The word comes out thick and broken, like he’s going to cry. Newly sure of himself, Sokka takes the crown from his shaking hands and places it back on Zuko’s head. It really does look beautiful. Zuko really does look beautiful.

_

“I knew it!” Toph crows, pumping both fists in the air. “I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!” They’re sitting on a hill near the palace, waiting for the fireworks to start, and a very, very nervous Zuko is wearing Sokka’s crown, and there’s this roaring-falling- _flying_ feeling in Sokka’s chest that makes him believe he can do anything, anything, anything.

“There is no way that you predicted this.” Katara is still steaming with the discovery that there’s something she didn’t know about her brother.

“Did too!” Toph rolls her eyes, and Sokka wonders distantly, dazedly, how she learned to do that when she can’t see anyone else doing it. The only thing he can really focus on right now is his right arm, which feels hotter than any other part of his body has ever felt, maybe ever, because it’s wrapped around Zuko’s waist, and Zuko’s arm is around his shoulders, and Sokka’s brain has been short-circuiting for going on four hours.

“I had no idea!” Aang proclaims cheerfully, unselfconsciously. “And does it really matter who knew what, anyway?”

“It does, because _I knew,”_ Toph insists hotly. “Sokka got one hundred times more annoying when Zuko said he couldn’t hang out with us. And whenever Sokka came in the room, Zuko’s heart sounded like a baby bird.”

A baby bird. Sokka’s not sure what that means, but he likes it. It makes him want to pull Zuko closer, and kiss him on the blush in his cheeks, but this is still too new, so he settles for grinning at the flushing Fire Lord.

“Okay, well I’m just glad it happened,” Aang says brightly, completely unbothered by Toph and Katara’s little feud.

“ _I’m_ glad those old ladies never explained what these crowns really were, because no way would Sokka have done this on his own.” Toph wrinkles her nose. “And I don’t really see Sparky getting the nerve to do it himself, either.”

Zuko tips his head toward Sokka, lifts an eyebrow. “Would you have? Told me how you felt?”

“Without the festival?” Sokka scoffs. “No way. Are you kidding me? You’re the _Fire Lord._ You’re the leader of an entire fucking nation, dude. I’m a Water Tribe peasant, remember?”

Eyes narrowing in thought, Zuko considers it. He sits up, lifting the crown off his head and passing it to Katara. He uses one hand to wiggle the leather cord loose from his ponytail – _he’s still using it!_ Sokka’s heart sings – and then Zuko plucks the Fire Lord headpiece from his dissolving topknot and tucks it into a pocket as he shakes his hair loose. It falls across his face in that familiar, shaggy way, the way he wore it when they were traveling the Fire Nation undercover, as renegades, rebels, outlaws. It’s Sokka’s favorite look, and he supposes he can tell Zuko that, now.

Reaching out to take the crown back, Zuko sets it back atop his disheveled locks. “According to your rules,” he tells Sokka, smirking, “I’m not the Fire Lord anymore. No headpiece, no title. So?”

“So what?” Sokka asks, feigning stubbornness. All their words are playful, all their teasing tinged with something like delirious relief. “I already gave you the flower crown.”

“It’s traditional to end the Fire Lily Festival with a dance.”

Sokka rolls his eyes. “It’s so your turn to ask me. I gave you the crown!”

“And then took it back!”

“I thought you didn’t want it!”

“You didn’t ask!”

“Well…well…” Sokka sputters.

Toph rolls her eyes. “Can it, you. If you two don’t go dance, I’ll kick both of your asses into next week.”

It’s enough for them. They drop their arms reluctantly to stand, but when he’s on his feet, Sokka finds Zuko’s fingers creeping in to hold his hand, and he wants to melt or scream or die about the feeling.

“Do you want to dance, too?” Aang asks tentatively, and Katara answers with her own blushing nod. They’re both still wearing their crowns.

“Do you want to come with us?” Zuko asks Toph, who’s still lounging in the grass, sightless eyes turned toward the gathering crowd at the bottom of the hill.

Making a face, Toph shakes her head. She points to her self-made crown. “I asked myself already, and I said no.”

Rolling his eyes, Sokka turns back toward the crowd, some of whom are starting to bow to each other and dance, and at Zuko’s insistent tugging, follows his-his-his-

His Zuko down the hill. When they’re standing on level ground again, Zuko turns to face him, and Sokka bites his lip.

“I don’t know how to dance,” he admits.

“Just follow me.”

They’re really standing mostly in place, swaying a little, but Sokka’s okay with that because he’s looking right into Zuko’s face, and his hands are on Zuko’s waist, and the two of them are so close Sokka can feel the body heat bouncing between them. He can’t resist – he leans in and kisses Zuko, firmer than before, surer, more eager, and kisses him again when Zuko laughs.

Above them, the fireworks start, and Sokka rolls his eyes. “Typical. This is like some shitty romance play.”

“If it makes you feel better,” Zuko says conversationally, leading Sokka in a slow twirl near the edge of the dance floor, “you distracted me from a lot of important meetings. My advisors may have greenlit those fireworks I was so against. Maybe, any minute now, one of them will take a wrong turn and crash into us.”

“Okay, and how would that make me feel better?”

“Well, then it’d be a shitty tragedy. Not a romance.”

Sokka laughs. “Yeah. I guess. Still.”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t know. This part isn’t really so shitty, I guess.”

“Yeah.” Zuko leans in a little, against Sokka’s chest. If his heart is a bird, it might be taking flight. “Yeah.”

**Author's Note:**

> I love love love everyone's comments, so please drop a few words if you liked it! I read all of them and try to reply to all, so if you have any recommendations, requests, or questions, please feel free to ask! I'm doing a lot of writing right now so I'm definitely open to suggestions. :)
> 
> If you have any requests or ideas for new fics, I can now be found on tumblr at overcomewithlongingfora-girl

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [A Fire Lord and His Fire Lilies](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25430374) by [astromirage](https://archiveofourown.org/users/astromirage/pseuds/astromirage)




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